Servers

Catherine

Catherine walked home alone one night. The desert air of her hometown smelled of sandalwood and a hint of a fruit. Every server had secrets, and Catherine was no exception. Who is the tall girl with the short eccentric style hair and the odd sass that nobody would expect from her?

She walked into her house, which was an extra thin townhouse that blended in with the mountains. Her life was far from normal, and she wasn't normal either.

Her mother was at the stove, stirring some beans on the stove.

"About time you came home."

"Hi mother." Catherine did not sound pleased.

"I should really set a curfew on you, you come home way too late."

"It's only 9 o clock."

"9 o clock was my bedtime when I was your age. Are you hungry? I made some beans for you."

"Just beans?"

"Yes, because I feel like making just beans."

Catherine put her backpack down and sat at the table.

"Have you seen Taylor?" Catherine asked.

"No, I have not."

Taylor is Catherine's older sibling. When Catherine was little, Taylor was her big brother. But, when he was 16 years old, he started to transition into a female. Taylor now likes to be referred in the they/them tense now. It has severely disappointed their mother, and Taylor doesn't like to be at home.

Catherine's mother put some beans on a plate.

"I'm going to bed." She said and put the pot back on the stove.

Catherine started to poke at her beans and wonder about her life.

She grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Toastwood. Her father loved her mother, but he was killed after being hit by a train while driving. Her mother has been severely depressed and became strict on the kids. Her mother is also against the LGBTQ+ community as her beliefs go. She nearly disowned Taylor after Taylor transitioned into a girl, and Catherine had to beg her mother for Taylor to stay. If her mother found out that Catherine is only attracted to girls, Catherine would probably have nowhere to stay.

Taylor is often out late at night making money by being a prostitute.

While Catherine got a job at Papa's Cheeseria and works many hours to help support her family.

As a result, Catherine grew up tougher than nails and became one of the backbones of all of the servers. With her quick wit and sassy confidence, she knows what is right and what is wrong.

Little does anybody know what her life is like behind closed doors.

When she finished eating, she went to her room and retrieved her laptop from under her bed. She opened it up and logged on.

www.flipchat.com

And she started typing.

catherine: hey.
jjjjjjjjjjjeee: it's been a while.
catherine: I know.
jjjjjjjjjjeee: you only talk to me when you're sad. What's the matter?
catherine: it's a long story.

Catherine sighed and she started typing. Her typing became more furious and most quicker. Going through a swirl of emotions as she mashed the keyboard, her eyes filled with tears.

catherine: not like you'd understand, I don't even know you.

She finished and sighed.

And she turned off her laptop and slid it from under her bed.

She jumped onto her bed and grabbed her bumblebee pillow and buried it into her face.

It was the middle of the night, about 11pm.

The door creaked and it woke Catherine.

Taylor was in the doorway, staring at Catherine.

"Hey lil sis."

Taylor took off their boots and their implants and wig off, revealing instead of a blonde prostitute, a flat but tall brunette.

"You seem bothered." Taylor walked into the room and sat on Catherine's bed.

"It's just life."

"Still making $425 every other week?"

"Yep."

"Then what's wrong-..."

"How much did you bring home tonight?" Catherine changed the subject.

"200 smackos. Put it on the kitchen table."

"You make more than me." Catherine pouted.

"No, don't forget that the 425 is your payday. You work minimum wage, every 4 days. Minimum wage is like 10 dollars, and you work 8 hours per day. That's 80 dollars per day. 80 times 4 equals 320. On top of payday, you make $1,065 every other week."

"You should've been a math major, Taylor."

"No, you're just stupid."

Catherine wacked Taylor with her pillow.

"OUCH! That actually hurt!"

Catherine rolled her eyes and threw the pillow to Taylor.

"But in all seriousness, you look a little down."

"That's an understatement." Catherine said.

"What's wrong? You can tell me? We're siblings."

"I'm in a dark place right now. Mentally."

"Oh, so your brain lives in Seattle."

Catherine glared at Taylor.

"Jeez, you never could take a joke."

"It's not funny."

"Is it with your server friends? What's the tea this time?"

"Long story short because I know you are tired and want to go to bed.... One of them drugged one of the others and the one that got drugged is in the hospital. And one of the girls ran away from her home and she's now living with one of the other girls."

Catherine started to cry, Taylor hugged Catherine.

"I hate all of this. So much has been going on and I can't hide it any longer. They wouldn't listen to what I have to say because they would think that I'm lying and I'm only using it for sympathy which I'm not! After dad died, everybody got shaken up. It was only 4 years ago, but it feels like yesterday we got the call that dad went to heaven."

"Shhhh. It's hard to think about. And after that, when I saw Caitlyn Jenner on TV, I realized that I wasn't meant to be a man, so I transitioned into a woman. We all had our moments."

The two stayed together and hugged each other. Taylor was the only person that Catherine could confide in. They were siblings, but they have been through too much together at a young age, which would be shocking to most.